23 April 2009

Boston Globe Editorial: Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover "Bullied to Death"

"Bullied to Death" is an excellent editorial in the Boston Globe on the Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover tragedy. The editors discuss the 500 pound gorilla in the living room—that bullying of young boys is often much harsher in the inner cities:

Relentless bullying, including anti-gay slurs, by students at the New
Leadership Charter School in Springfield pushed sixth-grader Carl
Joseph Walker-Hoover to take his own life, according to his mother. The
quality of interventions by school officials is unclear. But an act so
desperate by one so young is a clear reminder of how schools can become
torture chambers for students perceived as different.

Massachusetts led the nation in 1993 by crafting an anti-discrimination law for gay and lesbian students. But the law is only as effective as the educators who implement it. And the stakes can be higher in poor, urban districts like Springfield, where nonconformity too often draws aggressive attention. Teachers or administrators who ignore even a single degrading comment in that environment can open the door to a world of pain.

Bullying is much more intense in poor, urban school districts because this is where children (and their "parents") are taught to glorify "thug" culture. So it becomes unfortunately all-too-common in the black community to taunt and harass boys and young men who do not act like thugs. How many more children have to be bullied to death until we learn this wrong?

Comments

Have you followed the story of Jaheem Herrera . He was a light skinned young man from the Virgin Islands, in a predominantly black school. In addition to being called gay, he was called snitch.
The school is middle class and suburban.
This is a serious problem.